Title: Bookends

Series: University Square, Book Three

Author: Brenda Murphy

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/13/2021

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 64600

Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, Contemporary, romance, BDSM, interracial, plumber, blue-collar, autistic child, mother/daughter relationship

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Description

The life of university librarian, Amari Foster, life is neatly cataloged. Work, home, and securing a future for her daughter are her focus. Hard-edged and handsome, she manages her private life with ruthless precision, cutting ties, and maintaining distance to protect her battered heart.

Plumber Thalia Makris has given up her dream of long-term love after a series of bad relationships. Desperate to have her own business, Thalia fills her days working overtime and her nights with fantasy novels.

After a chance encounter leaves both women wanting more than a one-night stand, they find themselves on the precipice of love. Will they take the plunge?

Excerpt

Bookends
Brenda Murphy © 2021
All Rights Reserved

“Mama, why do you wear this?” Brianna perched on the end of the bed and turned the scratched dull gold wedding band in her hands.

Amari adjusted her tie, tugging the knot in her bow tie into shape in the mirror. “Because it reminds me of your mommy.” She watched her daughter’s expression in the glass.

“It makes you sad.” Brianna held the ring up between her fingers and looked through it.

Amari turned to her daughter and held out her hand. “Sometimes.”

Brianna deposited the ring in her mother’s palm. “You should flush it.”

“What?” Amari pushed the ring over her knuckle before she slid her vest on.

“That’s what we did in my class when the fish died. I wasn’t as sad when I couldn’t see it anymore.” Her gaze settled on Amari. “If you didn’t see it, maybe you wouldn’t be so sad.”

Amari buttoned her vest from the bottom and held her daughter’s gaze. “I’m not sad.”

Brianna frowned. “You said to always tell the truth.”

“I am. And yes, sometimes it makes me sad. But other times it reminds me that your mommy and I were very much in love.” Amari lifted her suit coat from its hanger and folded it over her arm. She tilted her head at her daughter.

“I don’t remember her.” Brianna drew her hand over the comforter, tracing the pattern of the design with her fingers.

Amari swallowed on the dry ache in her throat and shifted her gaze to her shoes. “We need to go soon. We don’t want to come in after the bride.”

Brianna slid off the bed and spun in a slow circle. “Does my dress sparkle? Like Poppy in Trolls World Tour?”

Amari held the door open and nodded toward the hall. “It does.”

Brianna walked ahead of Amari. “Do you think they’ll have the spring rolls Ms. Mai makes?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure there’ll be something you want to eat at the reception.” Amari followed her daughter down the stairs to the living room.

“Don’t you look sharp. And, Brianna, you look so pretty in your new dress. Come here, let me fix your hair.” Cora Foster’s voice, filled with love, washed over Amari and pushed back her melancholy.

Brianna took a half step toward her grandmother and stopped. “I like it this way.” She squatted and rubbed her hand over their dog’s back. Lucy, their ever-patient Newfoundland, lifted her head and snuffled Brianna’s hand.

Amari lifted her chin at her mother. “Mom, please, let her be. She’s settled and we don’t have time for a meltdown.”

Cora pressed her mouth together in a thin line. “Fine.”

Amari plucked her keys from the hook by the door. “We won’t be late.”

Cora patted her lap. Lucy ambled over and rested her head on Cora’s knee. “We’ll be here.” She picked up the remote. “I’ve got a date with a Witcher.” She waggled her eyebrows.

Amari snort-laughed. “All right, Mom.”

Brianna crossed the floor, stopped short of her grandmother. She bent from the waist and leaned forward. “Hug?”

Cora scooted forward and pressed her forehead to Brianna’s brow. “Have fun. Bring Grandma a spring roll if they have them.”

“Okay.” Brianna straightened and walked to the door.

Cora’s gaze settled on Amari’s face. “You going to be okay?”

Amari looked away from her mother’s eyes. Her gaze settled on the faded photo of her wedding day on the wall behind the television. “Aren’t I always?”

Cora pursed her lips. “If you say so.”

Brianna shifted from one foot to the other by the door as she pulled her sweater on. “Mama, come on. The spring rolls will be gone.”

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Meet the Author

Brenda Murphy (she/her) writes erotic romance. Her most recent novel, Double Six, is the 2020 Golden Crown Literary Society winner for Erotic Novels, and Knotted Legacy, the third book in the Rowan House series, made the 2018 The Lesbian Review’s Top 100 Vacation Reads list. You can catch her musings on writing, books, and living with wicked ADHD on her blog Writing While Distracted. She loves sideshows and tattoos and yes, those are her monkeys. When she is not loitering at her local library, she wrangles twins, one dog, and an unrepentant parrot

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. For a free short story, information on book signings, appearances, work in progress snippets, previews and sneak-peeks, sign up for my email list.